Power Automate: New plugins and updates for Copilot
On 21 May 2024 Power Platform innovated once again by introducing Copilot, a large collection of new accessories. While its catalogue currently stands at over 1,200 connectors, a total of 6 new plugins for Copilot have been introduced, 74 new connectors and 116 updates to existing plugins have also been announced.
These are now available in Power Automate, Power Apps and Azure Logic Apps. This joint commitment by Microsoft and all strategic partners greatly expands the development of the emerging artificial intelligence ecosystem.
What are the new plugins that have been introduced in this update?
The first two plugins come from DocuSign, the famous application that allows the digital signature of any document, the tracking of the delivery status and the signing of the document.
Docusign
The first plug-in enables the integration of DocuSign services with the various Microsoft applications and services via Power Automate. This makes it easier to automate the various workflows involved in signing documents.
In order to use it, DocuSign Connect must be activated in the platform, as it is not enabled by default. It is therefore possible to change the Connect settings in the DocuSign configuration section. When using the plugin, the webhook is automatically registered by the plugin.
The second plugin is an extension of the first one, as it allows you to use a DEMO account and has access to 90% of the functionalities of the paid account. It is important to note that any submissions made through this plugin are not legally binding.
The extended information, along with the plugin documentation, can be accessed via the following links:
Data8
The third plugin introduced comes from Data8. A company dedicated to offer validation services and Quality Assurance of sensitive data. Its services are a seal of quality for its client companies. Since there are several contexts in which data quality is extremely important, such as the need for validation of bank details, telephone numbers or e-mails, this plugin facilitates such verification from the Copilot environment and can be integrated into the various Microsoft applications.
What are the requirements to be able to use the plugin?
- A Data8 account with available credits for each validation action.
- A valid API Key to be able to integrate in the plugin configuration. This key can be generated from the Data8 website.
The plugin documentation can be found at the following link:
Plumsail HelpDesk
Plumsail HelpDesk presents the fourth plugin introduced by Power Platform in this update. This application is a Helpdesk that allows you to manage incidents through tickets, so that the entire process of monitoring and resolution of these is covered.
This plugin allows the integration of an integrated ticketing system in Microsoft 365 and SharePoint applications. This makes it possible to exploit the AI capabilities of Microsoft Copilot in the HelpDesk; for example, tickets can be created or contact information can be obtained via natural language questions.
There is only one requirement to be able to use the plugin, which is to generate an API Key from the HelpDesk configuration. Once this key has been generated, the user only has to configure the action or actions available in the plugin that he/she wants and that are available in Flow.
The plugin information can be found at the following link:
ZOHO
The last plugins are presented by Zoho, a software distributor oriented to offer integrated services for companies, which cover the needs of customer management (CRM), direct management of incident tickets or mailing, among others.
The fifth plugin is called Zoho Mail, which allows to manage the communication of any organisation, in such a way that every action carried out on the e-mails is managed, whether it is the reception and sending or saving them as a draft. This plugin also allows you to activate, from the same Microsoft platform, automatic flows when receiving or sending e-mails.
The only thing to take into account is that the actions performed from the plugin are adjusted to the limitations of the integrated product, so it is adjusted to the requirements of the plan attached to the Zoho accountlinked to the plugin.
The sixth and last plugin integrates the Zoho ZeptoMail application, an email sending manager that provides real-time opening statistics, access to links and, in general, information related to the sending of emails.
As in the previous plugin, the only requirement is to have an account of the product to integrate (either Zoho Mail or Zoho ZeptoMail). This plugin and its connectors are also adjusted to the requirements of the selected plan of the account linked to it.
Extensive information on both plugins, along with detailed steps to integrate the connectors into our platform, can be found at the following links:
How do I get my connectors certified by Microsoft?
One of the many positive points of the Power Platform is that anyone can program a plugin that can be integrated into Microsoft applications; however, in order to receive an official release, which are listed on the official Power Platform developer portal, the following requirements must be met:
- You must implement a connection to a Software as a Service (SaaS) application. This requirement is not necessary for all independent publishers, which are those that are not the owners of the service that will implement the connection.
- Access to the API services needed to link the connector to the Power Platform must be secured by some authentication service.
- There must be a technical support contact to help resolve issues that may arise during the integration of the service.
There are also optional requirements, but which positively influence the chances of the plugin publication being accepted, such as the service to be connected being available 99.9% of the time.
Depending on the type of publisher proposing the certification and publication of plugins, specific steps have to be followed. Additional information can be found at the following link: Getting your Power Platform connector and plugin certified.
¿Eso es todo?
Not at all! As mentioned at the beginning of the article, not only 6 plugins have been introduced, but 74 new connectors have been included, several of which are described below:
Name | Description |
Action manager, sending and subscribing to events via webhooks. | |
Generation of written articles using AI. | |
Provider of commercial weather forecasting services worldwide. | |
Generative AI models with high performance-to-latency ratio. | |
Competitive intelligence tool in social networks for analysis and benchmarking. | |
Static and dynamic QR code generator and manager. | |
Generative AI content generation with advanced Google language models. | |
Service for collecting and updating domain data on the Internet. | |
Language models for speech-to-text conversion and other AI applications. | |
Solution for legal teams that automates legal workflows and interconnection with external systems. | |
Verify the validity of email domains to improve data quality and reduce bounces. | |
API to calculate valid working days, including holidays and customised schedules. | |
Service to validate email addresses and improve delivery rates. | |
Service to consult current and historical exchange rates. | |
Provides information on public, local and religious holidays. | |
Validation of international bank account numbers. | |
Telephone number validation for more than 190 countries. | |
Solution for the validation of VAT percentages in national and international sales. | |
Connector for reading and writing objects in an Amazon S3 bucket. |
You can check all plugins in the original article.